Shawn Mitchell, a Broomfield Republican who is representing Neville, said the person who is at fault is actually state Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, who filed the complaint against Neville — a notion that caused Gerou to shake her head in disbelief.

Mitchell said Gerou poked Neville in the chest and cursed him in the House lobby, which amounts to harassment and disorderly conduct.

“Rep. Gerou should realize that tempers flare and these kinds of clashes happen,” Mitchell said. “Mr. Neville doesn’t want to make a federal case out it, and Rep. Gerou should consider the same approach.”

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Witnesses include lobbyists and sergeants at arms.

Gerou filed the complaint against Neville, the political director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, after an encounter in which she admitted telling Neville to “(expletive) off.”

She said she was upset because someone was telling her constituents she supported four Democratic gun bills that she actually opposed. Gerou complained to the NRA[11] lobbyist, who then informed Neville that Gerou wanted to talk to him. Gerou said she had never met Neville before and didn’t know he was with Rocky Mountain Gun Owners until then.

The strident gun group, led by director Dudley Brown[12], has clashed with fellow Republicans it believes aren’t conservative enough on gun and social issues.

Neville said in a written statement released by his lawyer that Gerou mentioned Brown and called Rocky Mountain Gun Owners “a bunch of filthy liars.”

“What?” an incredulous Gerou said. “I never said anything like that.”

Gerou believed Neville’s response to her – that her constituents probably would receive another round of mailers critical of her – violated Rule 36, which states, in part, that lobbyists cannot try to influence legislators “by means of deceit or threat … or political reprisal.”

“A rule which purports to ban undefined threats of ‘political’ reprisal’ is a squeamish fiction that goes too far,” Mitchell wrote in his letter to the ethics committee. “The idea that legislators could declare it unethical to say: ‘If you oppose the positions I support, then I will oppose you,’ is a gross assault on the letter and spirit of the First Amendment.”

The legislature’s executive committee, comprised of legislative leaders in both chambers and both parties, reviewed Gerou’s complaint and decided an ethics committee should be appointed to review it.

If after the ethics committee investigation legislative leaders believe an ethics violation occurred, they can suspend lobbying privileges, issue a letter of admonition or recommend lawmakers censure Neville.